GREENWOOD — The Russellville High School quiz bowl team took top honors at the 6A West Regional tournament on Saturday, finished the day with a 5-1 record and earned a spot in the state tournament.

Russellville got off to a shaky start with a opening-round loss to Lake Hamilton on the last question, 205-195. However, that shaky round would be the last of the day as the Cyclones then stormed their way to the title.

The loss served as a wake-up call as the Cyclones jumped all over Searcy in game two, winning 370-150 behind the play of senior captain Wes Prewett and sophomore Drew Coker, according to coach Paul Gray.

RHS then defeated Texarkana in game three with a decisive 240-175 victory.

The Cyclones were seeded second and drew a first-round bye for the afternoon knock-out games.

Russellville then drew Searcy again in the afternoon round, and won an intense, long and sometimes messy game with several challenges from coaches, Gray reported. RHS maintained a lead the entire game behind the play of Prewett and Coker and won 280-210.

The Cyclones then drew undefeated Mountain Home in the championship game. Junior Hannah Hines scored 30 quick points in the first quarter with Prewett and Coker adding 40 and 30, respectively, to get the Russellville out to a 100-20 lead.

The Cyclones built a comfortable lead and led 175-20 at the end of the second quarter. Mountain Home had a big third quarter and closed the gap to 215-120 after three periods of play. The Cyclones protected their lead in the fourth quarter and won the game 265-200 to take the regional championship.

Prewett led all Cyclone players with 440 points and Coker had a big day with 350. Junior Emily Austin was solid with 140 points, along with Hines who added 70. Senior co-captain Will Hanna added 40 points. Senior Craig Penry and junior Jackie Balcerzak each chipped in 30 points with junior Evan Hanna adding 20.

Seniors Doug Moses and Kat Storment, along with junior Hailey Reed, and sophomore Trevor Guiltner also played for the Cyclones. Coker was named to the all-region team for his outstanding play and scoring average. Prewett was named the region tournament MVP as the high score player on the day.

The Cyclones will travel to the 6A State tournament in Batesville on April 6. Gray and coach Brandon Cooper said were very pleased with their team’s play on Saturday.

“We played well after our first match this morning,” Gray said. “We were so sluggish in the first game. But the kids recovered and did exactly what we asked them to do. Wes was our leader, as usual, and he led us out of that first-game funk. We decided to play Drew in the second game and he really responded. He had an amazing scoring total and didn’t even play in the first game.”

Cooper added that the team put together a nice run after the opening match.

“After the first game, we put together four really nice games,” he said. “Winning the second quarter is so important in quiz bowl. We were able to win every second quarter after the first game. Wes and Drew played so well together and Craig and Jackie added some critical points for us in game two.”

Gray and Cooper indicated this tournament win was only a temporary goal for the Russelllville team.

“We wanted to win the region tournament. But our main goal is to finish in the top two at the state tournament and get to the state finals game,” Cooper said.

“We told the kids to celebrate over the weekend, but that we would forget about this win on Monday and focus on our goal of getting to the state championship game,” Gray added.

Both coaches also wanted to give another big thank you to the team sponsor, Quizno’s of Russellville.

“Quizno’s has been so good to our kids by providing them with team T-shirts and meal discounts all year. We really can’t thank Quizno’s owners Robert and Dennis enough for their help,” Gray said.